In the skies above East Asia, the North Pacific, and North America yesterday, stargazers were treated to a brief glimpse of an annular eclipse, in which a brilliant, golden flare of light circles the Moon. An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is at its greatest distance from Earth when it passes between Earth and the Sun. At its farthest reaches from our planet, the Moon’s disk cannot completely cover the Sun, as it would in a total eclipse, and thus a thick glowing rim of the Sun’s light becomes visible in the eclipse shadow.

The geometry of a total solar eclipse. The shadow of the Moon sweeps over the surface of Earth. In the darkly shaded region (umbra), the eclipse is total; in the lightly shaded region (penumbra), the eclipse is partial. The shaded region on the opposite side of Earth indicates the darkness of night. (Dimensions of bodies and distances are not to scale.) Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Yesterday’s annular eclipse was witnessed by people living in a narrow corridor stretching from southern China to Albuquerque, New Mexico, passing over Tokyo, the southern edge of the Aleutian Islands, and the coasts of southern Oregon and northern California in between. The path of the Moon’s penumbral shadow was much broader, being visible over most of East Asia, the Pacific, and much of western North America, as well as Greenland. For more information on the 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse, see NASA’s Eclipse Web Site.

The May 20, 2012, annular eclipse as seen from Santa Fe, New Mexico, about ten minutes into the eclipse. Credit: Gregory McNamee

The May 20, 2012, annular eclipse as seen from Santa Fe, New Mexico, at 7:35 PM local time. Credit: Gregory McNamee